Sliding Door Repair Advice Please

[Plasticman]

thats better, now when you construct bthe rear wing bit , no matter how tempted or sure you are , tack it and no more , just enough to hold it in place then do same with slider skin, little and often and gradually you will get near enough
mm

[Wookster]

Well, didn't get much done at the weekend , spent ages searching the forum for pics of the area I needed to work on.

Finally found a few pics which helped, MM's of course. Key to this situation is patience, patience, patience.

This is what I started with.



No idea what should be here cos it had all rusted away. After research fitted the offcut from the original repair panel and then worked out from there what was needed.

{img}http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg5 ... 3.jpg{/img}

Obviously needs something to be attached to so made this little piece.



Which fitted fairly well once cleaned up.


Usual issues though with the repair panel, kind of rocks when offered up against the existing structure, tap it with a hammer to get it to fit and it doesn't fit somewhere else.
This sort of issue is totally new to me so takes a while, definitely a skill you learn from by your mistakes.

The pic I was searching for shows the structure holding the door seal in place, this is what I have to re-construct next.



More fun and time before it all comes together... all at the same time. Pain in the wotsit getting there though.
MOT stuff is so much quicker to achieve a result, I certainly know why bodywork repair cost so much takes bloody ages.

[Wookster]

Hi Folks,

Spent a bit more time cleaning up, de-rusting and priming the exposed metal, but not made much progress on the door seal area.
Could anyone advise me on the pic below:-



It appears that the structure which holds the channel for the door seal extends a few inches further, and then the channel needs to curve upwards to meet the vertical channel but what's in the corner behind the channel.
Also is the hole behind the supporting structure significant, do I need to remove this and weld in a plate behind or is this how they were made.
Vans a keeper so don't want trouble in the future, inner cill etc is solid elsewhere.

Cheers

Wookster

[Plasticman]

the picky above shows it all , just copy that, the hole well by rights it shouldnt be there but to do it right you need to remove all the outer sill to the left of it and remake it, also i see to the right and below the c post base there is an elongated hole, that shouldn t be there either,,,, well you asked
back to my own stuff now
mm

[Wookster]

Thanks Mike,

Just seems odd that the support section for the channel just stops and then the channel continues but deeper, that's what it looks like from the angle your pic is taken from.
Guess I'm going to have to remove the support section and weld in a plate, looks solid but since I can't be certain...
The hole to the right is an easy fix, but I swear it looks like it should be there as a drainage point or something which is why I left it. Odd how stuff can rust....

Anyway, looks like an afternoon with the spot weld drill/cutters but atleast I have a plan now, just going to take a bit longer but that's nothing new .

Cheers


Wookster

[Plasticman]

no , dont go remove it all , just cut the crap out and weld a bit of solid in, that particular plate is part of the main support for the rear jp and supension mount, it dont go th efull length,
there shoulkd be a drain at the bottom of the post but not through that plate ,
mm

[Wookster]

Sorry, poor description from me. Atleast I hope so.

The support bit I'm talking about is for the channel which holds the seal, not the plate the suspension is attached to.
Will take it back a foot or so at first so I can have a good nosy inside the sill, if it's all carp then I'll take the lot off.
I will add a drain as you suggest at the bottom of the C pillar though. Didn't know about that amongst many other things.

Thanks again

Wookster

[Wookster]

Shouldn't be surprised anymore but I am.



All the way from the rear to where the chisel is there isn't a single weld, chisel just slid along.
The whole lot had been covered with filler.
Looks like the inner sill has been replaced but the job was never really finished. Fairly thick metal too.
Outer sill is solid after further inspection so going to leave that, will just patch the end. Question is what do I do in respect of joining the two, as there is a huge 4mm gap.

Clamping them together pulls the outer down so could affect how the door runs.
Jacking up from underneath/hammering might bring them together but is it the right thing to do prior to seam welding the whole thing front to back.

Apologies folks cos once again I'm asking for advice.

[Plasticman]

drill through the 2 bits WI|THOUT putting anything inbetween, then add a strip of plate of the right thickness and clapm it then puddle weld the inner sill to the added bit then repeat the out to it, simple
mm

[Wookster]

Well, been down to the local fabrication shop and 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

He can't make the support section for the door seal so I'll make the piece that's rusted away instead of replacing the lot.
He's going to cut me a section of 3mm sheet a metre long and 20mm wide to fill in the gap between the sills, and fold me a 1.2m section of the U channel which holds the actual seal. Total cost a tenner or so.
Well happy with that as it took me an hour to make a short section by hand as a trial, no way I could make anything longer without it distorting to some extent.
Only glitch is that it will be next week before he gets the time, but still plenty of cleaning up and de-rusting to do so not too bad.

[Wookster]

Spent some time this afternoon removing the channel for the seal and assessing any repairs needed.
This is the outer sill cleaned up and the gap between the two sill adjusted so that the 3mm plate will slot in.
After finding more rust with the twist knot brush I opened up the sill all the way to the front



Just at the right of the pic you can see the only hole in the outer sill so cut this section out, using the remnants of a cutting disk.



And made a new bit to weld in later once I've made a couple of bits for the bottom edge.





Had to pack up a few mins ago cos don't want to annoy the neighbours, so blathered everything in Dinitrol and left the rest till tomorrow as the door is going to have to come off again to get to the right hand side.